


Beautiful Racket

by HerbertBest



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, F/M, First Crush, Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-17 02:05:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13066866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HerbertBest/pseuds/HerbertBest
Summary: Bookish Holly has her eye on the new counselor from across the lake, but their love/hate relationship has her wondering if her first summer as head of Cabin 22 can be saved.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheseusInTheMaze](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheseusInTheMaze/gifts).



“Have you seen the new guys in Cabin 12?”

Holly looked up from her Mercedes Lackey novel, eyeballing Suzy’s eager face. “The short guy with the streak in his hair or the tall guy with the curls?”

“Um, both,” Suzy chirped. She plopped onto the bed. “They’re so, y’know…hot,” she observed.

“Right,” Holly said. “Have you made sure the kids are okay?”

“I’m on my break, just like you. Mark and Barry have group b at the lake and Ross and Brian have group a in the craft room making lanyards.”

“Ahah,” Holly said. “Sorry, I’m just really nervous. This is my first year as counselor.”

“I guessed,” Suzy said. “I’ve been group leader for like, three years and I’ve never seen you before.”

“I’m new,” Holly said, which made her sound like she’d been shot to earth from some star. 

“Mm hmm,” Suzy remarked. “So. Want to go bother the new boys?”

“Sure,” she said. And may have rolled her eyes because honestly, who cared about boys at this point? But she got up and, alongside Suzy, exited their cabin and headed to the center square.

One of the people in charge of the camp –stout, with a beard – was showing the guys around, and the guys were just as Holly had described them – of equal height to the taller guy, stocky, with a blonde streak and a ratlike face.

The curly-haired guy was, in a word, pretty. The kind of pretty that was kind of infuriating because the person in question never knew they were beautiful. He was wearing a shirt with a logo for the band Rush and jeans that had clearly been taken prisoner by a washing machine at one point in their existence.

The tall one looked at her and tilted his head curiously. Her hackles were instantly up; being stared at in that manner was never a good sign. Then he smiled and waved at her guilelessly before disappearing into the cabin.

She was going to keep an eye on that one. He looked a little dangerous. 

Whether it was just an attitude or something he actually felt remained to be seen.


	2. Chapter 2

It turned out that the new guy – mister dangerous – was a rock star.

“He got first place at the talent show they held at his kosher camp,” said Suzy, as she and Holly hiked through the green mossy trail that separated the mess cabins from the counselor lodges. “That kind of makes him a rockstar.”

“Okay,” said Holly. “But like, does he play guitar or something?”

“Keyboards and bass,” said Suzy. “The other guy he was with raps.”

Holly chortled, which she knew was mean. Stopping herself, she asked, “oh my God. A white guy rapper?”

“But he’s really good! He rhymed macaroni with abalone when he rapped for me.”

“RAPPED FOR YOU?” Holly made a loud tisking noise. “If we’re gonna beat those boys you can’t hang out with them. When did you even get to meet him?”

“We we in line for the bathroom and he was trying to beatbox while he held it in.”

“Oh.” Holly didn’t want to picture that. She did, however, want to picture the incipient awards ceremony. She closed her eyes and pictured herself standing on the stage, her accomplished smile wide and full as she grasped the trophy and turned toward the audience.

And hopefully didn’t ruin her braces by horking through them.

She shook away that image and let out a little gasp as she bumped into someone very tall and very solid. He let out a low oof, staggered backward. She caught a sniff of something firewood-scented – his cologne, she realized. 

She looked up – and up – and met two warm brown eyes peering down at her.

“Ouch. Y’ok?” he asked.

“Yes!” She said. “Are you?”

“It wasn’t rad, but I’m cool!” he said. He gave her a sideways grin. “So you’re in cabin 12?”

She nodded. “I’m the head of it. How about you?”

“I’m usually across the lake. Only stuck here for orientation.” He shrugged. “It’s a lot more woodsy out here than I’m used to. I’m from New York,” he explained.

“Arizona,” she said.

“It must be really dry out there.” He winced at his own awkwardness, but she patted his hand.

“I’ve got to go, but I guess I’ll see you at orientation!”

“Sure!” he said, following her with his eyes as she headed for the enormous red-colored lodge where head counselors were required to meet every year.


	3. Chapter 3

The meeting was long and boring. Vernon made them go through the safety regs and checks every year, even though they were all three to second yearers in the room. It was Holly’s first time but she knew all about first aid, and how to stop a fight – how to treat bee stings and asthma attacks and poison ivy. She understood everything.

Danny listened with surprisingly visible eagerness. When they were done he was the one who had notes written on his phone, and he stuck it in his back pocket.

“Hey Holly, uh…what do we have to do if someone’s choking? That Heimlich thing?”

“You know how to Heimlich, right?” He shook his head. She shrugged. “Well, I don’t have very much time – but I probably have enough to teach you how to. There are dummies in the back of the staff quarters.” 

He followed her there, and they ended up together. His big hands were good for compressing chests, and he had a good rhythm to follow the breathing exercises. It was probably the result of being a good musician. 

“Do you have any questions?” she asked, when they were finished.

He didn’t. Instead, he ducked his head and kissed her cheek instead.


	4. Chapter 4

Holly blinked in shocked as Dan pulled away. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to like, kiss-bomb you.”

Holly blushed and rubbed her cheek. “No, it’s okay! If I didn’t like it I’d’ve given you a GOGP!”

“A what?”

“A good old groin punch!” she said. “I take my knee and…”

Dan shrank back. “I get the picture.”

He walked her back to the main cabin, where Suzy was waiting. “Hey, I’ll see you next time there’s a color war!” he called.

“See you too!” Holly yelled. She watched Dan walk away and meet up with Arin.

“Oh my god, WHAT did he do?” asked Suzy.

“Nothing!” The cabins strung out before her, bleached bright white in the sunlight, and Holly had to squint to make out Suzy’s pale face. “He just…kind of kissed me a little. And I didn’t even teach him the Heimlich!”

“Just…do that later,” Suzy sighed. “We’re about to have company.”

And then there were a bunch of little kids waiting by the gates of the main cabin. Holly straightened her spine. She’d been waiting for years to get to do this.

“Welcome, campers!” she said. And with a firm grin, she hoped she wouldn’t traumatize any of them too much.


End file.
